I've lived in Toronto my entire life and didn't know this was here. I found it on a search and it…read morehad very good reviews (4.6/5). This is a hidden gem, and the five of us agree it deserves an even better score! The restaurant is very nicely laid out, quite formal, with a great atmosphere - each table set far enough away from the others that you feel you have your own place. In addition, the staff and service was top-notch - very attentive yet not invasive or overbearing. Very professional and courteous. And the food is exceptional! The five of us ordered the soup special and oysters special for appetizers, and then had Piri Piri Chicken, Grilled Squid, Brazed Beef Ravioli, Salmon, and Lobster Ravioli (special) for mains, with sorbets, Pastel de Nata, and Chocolate Mousse Cake for desserts. The food presentation was amazing, and we all commented on each item as it was brought out. But then the flavours, we didn't expect - SO GOOD! Every bite was amazing, with good-sized portions the were just right! We all left well-fed and very happy with everything. We will all be back to this spot. Often. With wine, we each spent just over $100 - and it was worth every bite! We left nothing on our plates! Go here. It's awesome!

My first time in a Portuguese Restaurant. Came here for Winterlicious. I ordered all seafood from…read moreappetizers (grilled sardines) and main (grilled squid). Taste good and it's filling. I feel full until the following day. Intimate place. Good for romantic dates. Staff very friendly. Will Love to come back.

It has been a few years since I was last here and my last visit wasn't too good but I thought I'd…read moregive them another chance based on their backyard patio. There were four of us and ordered the sangria to share between three of us which was a lot but refreshing. Apps were Lucas Freitas (fried calamari) and Chourico a Bombeiro (flaming sausage). Both were delicious. I forgot to mention the bread and Piri Piri Sauce which came in the form of a large bottle. These were complimentary and it's nice to see a restaurant continue this tradition. There used to be a very crusty artisan bread that was served but over the years that has disappeared and it's a white bread now. Three of us had chicken/chicken breast and one had veal. Even the small portion was very generous. The salad was underwhelming but a pretty presentation. The server got a couple of orders wrong and seemed very distracted. The piece de resistance was the "Portuguese Tarts" which made a wonderful finale to a good Al fresco dining experience.

Once one of the top Portuguese restaurants in Toronto, Bairrada seems to have lost a step. I…read morerecently ordered a whole chicken and small potatoes via UberEats after a couple year hiatus, but was a bit disappointed. The chicken lacked the characteristic grill / char marks. The potatoes were bland, as if they were boiled rather than roasted. Or perhaps this was just a lazy attempt at slapping an order together because it was via Uber Eats? As always, their peri peri sauce is among the best in the city and saved the meal. Either way, lots of better options in the city these days.

Ordered the family platter came with a whole chicken and 3 sides. Rice, potato and grilled veggies…read morefor 39.99. The chicken was on the smaller side I'd say but it tasted decent. A bit on the drier side. I enjoyed the rice and veggies but the potato balls were different than I'm used to. It was very dry. Overall service was ok got my food quick. For some reason they have signs saying cash is better and if you pay with card they will charge 10% fee which is insane

Stopped in with my two sons for a quick bite before a World Cup game. We all had the grilled…read morechicken sandwich. Quite possibly the best grilled chicken sandwich on the planet. You gotta try it!

Return visits while in Toronto (2 of 3)…read more I came back to Perla and its appeal, at least to me, is very much still there. You are greeted upon walking in to this family run Portuguese restaurant. This time, I tried a bitoque, a steak with an egg on top. It would be on the list of 10 typical entrees you'd find in a Portuguese restaurant. It was preceded by a salad, for which I selected the Caesar salad option. I followed it up with a dessert which was a goblet with a frothy type of gelatin, pudding, or mousse. The flavor was either passion fruit or guava. I forgot what it was immediately upon leaving because I devoured it so quickly! The frothiness made it lighter, such that it wouldn't weigh you down. By now, you should be able to tell this was a very good meal. A few things round out the experience. The bread was accompanied by a pate' or dip of sorts. It was excellent. I didn't know what it was, therefore I asked. It had tuna as well as a good number of other ingredients. Together, it did not taste very fishy or potent in any way, except incredibly flavorful. Their cuisine is representative of all of Portugal, although Perla's roots are in Northern Portugal. The painted ceramic rooster for good luck one often sees hails from Barcelos, just slightly north of the Porto area. In fact, the fueling and rest areas on the toll road through Barcelos have these modern metallic renditions of the rooster that are minimalistic silhouettes you look right through. I might add a few other things that made me glad I returned to Perla. For one, Lusophones are well represented among the customers. But, more importantly, they fill an important niche for me since so many Portuguese locales miss this mark. They are essentially a reliable mid-range restaurant with a broad enough menu. Here, you can avoid the end points that I don't much care for or seek - the piri piri (or peri peri) chicken places where you accompany your order with a pastel de nata that the "hey, wow man" types (at least on the Plateau in Montreal) tend to frequent and the high-end restaurants where Portuguese leans haute cuisine, a lot is about presentation, and the portions are small. (In Montreal, one such place should immediately come to mind.) I was happy that I stopped by, using the TTC card with which you can avoid the crazy Toronto traffic and parking hassles. The College Street streetcar practically stops in front of Perla's door. It all adds up. The team running this restaurant puts their hearts into their work. I am going to go with 5 stars, with each one representing a letter in the word P-E-R-L-A.

Great spot for Portuguese food! One thing I will say, is plan to sit and enjoy your stay. It can…read moretake a little while for food and service but it's nice. It's a more relaxed vibe. I had the grilled calamari appetizer and the veal for my main. Our group also went with the server's recommendations (including my choose to get the veal). We were all happy with what was recommended. They brought us some bread but it was toasted and really hard. I didn't love that. The food took a bit and was nice but not the most beautiful. It was very tasty though! Our server was incredibly nice and our glasses were never empty. She took extra care when splitting the bill for us and we had a great time.

I was in Toronto for the 200K Princess Margaret Ride to Conquer Cancer and after 2 long days of…read morebiking, I was on the hunt for a fantastic meal and Chiado did not disappoint. It was the perfect capstone...nice, upscale, delicious Portuguese food and seafood. Based on the availability on the website, I was concerned + discouraged that I would not be able to get a table, but I was able to walk in and get a table without any issue. I started my meal with the Tiger Shrimp appetizer (Gambas Mozambique). They were accented with a delicious piri piri sauce and the overall flavor was phenomenal. Clams were my first choice, but they were out of them. For my main, I tried a special white flaky fish that they had from the Azores that resembles a perch. It was delicious! For dessert, I had the vanilla meringue dessert. It was good but by this point I was so full. The slice was huge, but the meringue just melted in your mouth. I really liked the wine list....they had vinos from the different parts of Portugal. I sat in the front part of the restaurant and enjoyed looking out the windows to people watch. Service was great! I highly recommend Chiado!

We got to experience, private dining. Our Christmas party/ end of your celebration was held here…read more We had fresh appetizers. For dinner I had the risotto. The wine was impeccable. We found out that the owner has his own vineyard, which was absolutely stunning. I recommend this for an intimate setting !

I ordered combo #1 from Churrasco of St Clair. When I got home, I found the chicken to be dry and…read moreflavorless.

Excellent customer service when I called to place my order. The food was ready when we picked it…read moreup and the chicken was excellent

So fun! A colleague recommended this place and I walked by yesterday night (a Friday) and it was…read morepacked! Fun vibes leaking out onto the streets and lots of chatter and conversation. I was able to score a table for 4 today (Saturday) for lunch and had a great vermut with some fizz. We had three adults and a little baby. We got the prix fixe meant for 2 people and added a few other dishes to supplement. The prix fixe included: Shishito peppers, simply roasted and topped with flakey salt Pan con tomate, better than the ones I had yesterday... the sourdough bread they make themselves in house. Think, crusty, topped with great olive oil. We ended up ordering a side of just bread and olive oil because we loved it so much. Papas bravas, a touch spicy. Lots of scallions. I thought they were just alright, but my friend devoured them. We chose the manchego over the chorizo (one of my friends is a pescatarian) and we enjoyed that. The star was the octopus and our additional order of the mushrooms with cured egg yolks. The octopus was so tender and yet crispy at the tentacles. The mushrooms were just scrumptious!! My absolute favorite. Crispy, meaty, topped with some greens that went nicely with the oyster mushrooms. To finish, we had basque for dessert. Umm can't believe it's the first time I had this! Wow, so delicious.

Came here for a date night and I really wanted to love Bar Isabel, but was a little disappointed…read more There was a lot of hype around the restaurant, but the food was just average. We ordered the Sea Bream Ceviche and chips, quarter Octopus and Patatas Bravas. The highlight was the ceviche. The octopus was unfortunately a little overdone, which made it tough. I would absolutely not order the patatas bravas again. The potatoes were very dry and tasted as if they had been sitting out for some time. We also sat at the bar and had a few ordered of cocktails with the food. Be aware that the bar itself slopes down towards you. With that being said, my partner put her drink down on the sloped part and it fell all over both of us, with the bartender seeing it all unfold. He was nice in providing some extra napkins to dry ourselves off, but all he had to offer was "Yup that happens a lot" as opposed to maybe offering to remake the drink which was now 2/3 empty as a result. Was a little disappointed at that service in particular, especially when you're paying upwards of $18 for a small cocktail. The atmosphere was good, however. IF I were to give it another try, I'd probably just opt for drinks and skip the food, which was a little pricier for what you're getting portion-wise and quality.

So great! I had the…read morewaffle stuffed with brisket and took a pint of ice cream good! Amazing!

This Portuguese place was absolutely amazing. We tried various tapas and they were all excellent…read more Good services. Will certainly be back when in the area.

The service and ambiance were good but the food didn't taste worth the price…read more My friend got the grilled chicken main course and didn't expect so many bones in the dish and each potato he had was either overcooked, just right, or undercooked. My other friends shared the piri-pork chicken tacos and the portions were so small inside the taco for each one to cost $6. I got the saffron paella which is supposed to be a dry dish but the texture was very moist and it was too hot to enjoy. The only item we enjoyed was the pastels de natas but each piece was $4 and again it personally was too hot for me to enjoy when it reached the table.

Delicious tapas! Gorgeous interior. Wonderful service. Can be a little loud with the club…read moreupstairs but it didn't bother us. Would definitely recommend!

it's definitely a fraud, doesnt worth it at all in terms of food, portion, and service. Definitely…read moredo not recommend it

We were told before ordering that service would be slow. When we paid, we were asked how was…read moreeverything. "You were told service would be slow," we were reminded. Upon leaving and waiting, we were approached and apologized but in the same breath we were warned service would be slow for one reason or another. As a customer, I then would give some concessions but everyone was clearly upset it was almost 4 hours. It would have been better if the customer service was present. But when we one of us went to grab the water decanter to refill water three times even while our server watched us and kept walking - that was a no, no. The food was okay and perhaps suffered from staffing issues but when you're paying 100 per plate I would like a better dining experience. The best thing we had was dessert but we waited almost an hour for this. One almost fell asleep waiting. The atmosphere clearly suffered from the tables around us. We could hear how upset people were and they asked for their food to go. I could hear the table next door in Portuguese want the bill. They wanted their dessert and it just wasn't coming. We were in the same boat. Had at least the customer service been positive - our table would feel better. We asked for help with our table that kept shaking but that didn't happen. Not fun to eat while table is shaking. We watched while everyone had received bread so we asked. She clearly wasn't pleased we requested this. Her facial expression read upset while her eyes rolled up. I was a honestly regretting asking. Then when she brought it to our table, she firmly planted that plate on our table and walked away. That's not very kind at all. It was one of the most upsetting evenings.